The Calm Before The Storm
by Sersee Grayson
Summary: Hinamori Momo shows Hitsugaya Toshiro just how weak and helpless she really is. OneShot.


**Summary: **Hinamori Momo shows Hitsugaya Toshiro just how weak and helpless she really is.

**Warnings:** Contains spoilers for the end of the Arrancar Arc.

**Disclaimer: **Bleach does not belong to me.

**A/N:** I read a story similar to this, although I don't remember what it's called. However, it was set after Aizen's betrayal, so I thought I'd make my own version set after the Arrancar War. Also, I would assume that Hitsugaya's stabbing of Hinamori would absolutely _eat_ at him, but I doubt Tite Kubo would devote any time to show the depth of Hitsugaya's guilt. And to be balantly honestly, I just wanted to try my hand at a Bleach fight scene. They look so fun and versatile!

**Words: **4,351 (my longest one shot to date!)

**The Calm Before the Storm**

"DAIGUREN HYORINMARU!"

A rush of icy reiatsu flew out of the cave entrance and instantly froze the sparse vegetation that pitifully clung to the mountain surface. All living creatures, souls and Hollows alike, fled the immediate vicinity.

"TENSO JURIN!"

Another large spike of reiatsu leaked out of the ominous cave, and several crashes echoed loudly, as if large objects fell and shattered.

Hitsugaya Toshiro gripped Hyorinmaru tighter as he watched his obliteration of the stalactites. His brow was furrowed in anger as he felt, rather than saw, two petals fall from his bankai.

"You'll never protect Hinamori like this." He berated himself in a harsh voice. "You can't even hit the rock you meant to hit. Fucking pathetic."

His reiatsu was becoming dangerously hard to keep under control as he continued to criticize himself. His mind repeatedly showed him images of a broken Hinamori, his ears recalling the soft voice of his beloved friend asking him why, why Shiro-Chan, and his hands remembering the warm liquid that was hers trickling down his hands as his sword was covered in her blood.

She almost died by his hand, even after swearing to her on her bedside, when he left the Seirietei to confront Aizen, that she would never have to be broken again. What kind of a _captain_ was he if he couldn't even do that for his best friend?

What kind of _captain_ is manipulated in such a way that he almost killed the only person that meant the world to him?

Hitsugaya's face was twisted in anger as he gripped his sword harder.

He was so ashamed after the battle that he had gone to Yamamoto Soutaicho to request a resignation. He was then smacked so soundly across the face by the Captain General that he had barely heard the prompt command to stop being a child and get back to work.

"_You may look like a child."_ The Soutaicho had said loudly, and Hitsugaya had glared sullenly at the floor between his feet. "_But that does not give you any reason to act like one! You are a captain of the Gotei 13, you have responsibilities to your underlings. To the Seirietei. To Hinamori-fukutaicho. Only a child runs away from his difficulties. Now, Hitsugaya Toshiro, Captain of the Tenth Division, are you a child or a man?"_

The Captain General had then dismissed him, saying that the First Division also needed the Tenth Divisions damage reports right away.

So Hitsugaya had sulked back to the Tenth Division barracks defeated, but he resolved to get stronger. To protect his precious Hinamori.

No matter the cost.

"HYOTEN HYAKKASO!"

District 34, 35, and 36 of West Rukongai had a monstrous blizzard that afternoon.

888

"Say, fukutaicho, I think we have the last of them." The third seat sat beside her on the grass, left arm in bandages, but his handsome face grinning nonetheless.

Hinamori smiled around her as the new recruits around her lounged and talked amongst themselves. Those that were proficient enough in Kido healed those with injuries, and they had not suffered any casualties.

All in all, she thought that it was a pretty successful eradication of the Hollow Nest the Soutaicho had requested her squad to eliminate.

"Lucky for us, it was just standard Hollows and no Arrancars, eh, fukutaicho?" her third seat continued beside her. "And, our new recruits seem to be able to handle themselves decently."

"Ah, yes, Kudou-kun, they are doing pretty well for fresh graduates." She showered him with one of her famous dazzling smiles, and third seat Kudou blushed profusely. Hinamori-fukutaicho was perhaps the most well known and well loved of all the Shinigami for her bright smile and even brighter attitude towards all, subordinates and superiors alike. Even after the whole mess with Aizen.

She had recuperated well in the Twelfth Division, and her fragility dimmed day by day, giving way to her undeniable sunshine that was decidedly _her._

Late at night with no one else around, she still brooded over it. Aizen's betrayal of her, of her division (she had come to think of the Fifth as _hers_), and of all of the Seireitei. She still thought of the past, and what she should've done to change it, although a voice deep inside her seem to scream that Aizen's betrayal was beyond her control.

But in the light of the day, surrounded by all the friends who survived the war, and by the division who loved her despite her being missing in action for a majority of the time, she was truly happy.

All the Shinigami around her suddenly froze. Hinamori snapped out of her thoughts as she felt it too: a massive spike in chilly reiatsu that seem to instantly drop the temperature of the beautiful day a couple of degrees.

As a collective whole, they all turned to the west as another spike in cold reiatsu hit them in the face. Some of the new recruits shivered and wrapped their arms around themselves.

"Fukutaicho.. this feels like..." The third seat didn't need to finish. Instantly, enormous storm clouds appeared from nowhere and gathered to the distant west. It threatened snow.

Hitsugaya.

And he was in a terrible mood.

It has been nearly a year and a half, she had long since put it behind her, but _he_ still could not let go of the incident with Aizen. Despite everyone's numerous attempts to tell him otherwise, he was still wrapped up in this thought that somehow he had failed her. And so he trained daily, alone, for hours on end. Hinamori knew he was trying to get stronger for her sake. She remembered plainly the day when the veil had been lifted from her eyes and she realised that everything he did was for her sake.

"_It's not your fault, Hitsugaya-kun._" She had said to him as he visited her room in the Twelfth Division for the first time. "_You can't keep blaming yourself for what Aizen chose to do."_

But his eyes had been averted, and he wouldn't say a word to her. He had just sat there, his basket of fruits long since forgotten on the ground at his feet. "_Hitsugaya-kun...please. Let go of the past. It is all over. I'm safe. You're safe. Aizen is...finally gone." _Her eyes had been pleading as tears welled up. "_Shiro-chan..."_

He had taken one look at her tears and gotten angry then. And had slammed his fist into the wall to his right. Ice instantly encased the sizable dent and for the first time in years, Hinamori was afraid of him.

Seeing the fear darken her sweet brown eyes, Hitsugaya had let out a long sigh, and all the fight in his body seemed to have left him that instant as he looked a broken and defeated man. He had stared at the floor for quite a while before he raised his head and spoke, albeit to her left shoulder.

"_You don't get it, Hinamori. I had your blood on Hyourinmaru. On my hands. I carried you broken, impaled, dying... and you asked me why, Hinamori, you asked me. And I couldn't answer you. I promised you no one will ever break you again. I promised I would destroy anyone, everyone who dared to... Then I had to ... _

_... I had to protect you from myself."_

He had never brought it up again, although Hinamori would constantly tell him that she never blamed him. But he would turn a deaf ear to her declarations.

When she was finally well enough to leave the Twelfth Division and return to lead her own division, she found it in the capable hands of her third seat.

However, a couple weeks into her return to her division, she noticed that she had been getting a lot less paperwork than normal. But she brushed it off, and thought that perhaps, her division had gotten just that much better over the course of the time she had been away.

Then came the incident with the annual seated officers' trip to the real world. Every division in the Gotei 13 was required to patrol their area of the real world at least once a year, and it was a fifth division tradition to send only their seated officers since it was a good time for them to bond and fight, and since they had the most experience with the real world in general.

The night before she was supposed to leave, she was summoned, via hell butterfly, to the first division headquarters by Yamamoto-Soutaicho. When she arrived there, she found not only Yamamoto-soutaicho, but Hitsugaya-taicho as well.

"_Hinamori-fukutaicho." _The Soutaicho had boomed in his slow, but loud voice. "_Hitsugaya-taicho of the Tenth Division had requested that he take your place and lead the Fifth Division in their annual mission to the real world."_

Hitsugaya had been unable to meet her eyes. He stared at a point just above her left ear and said nothing.

"_But Yamamoto-soutaicho, I need to be with my division – "_

"_You _need_ to be recuperating in the Fourth." _Hitsugaya had cut in, in a firm voice and still avoiding direct eye contact. "_You shouldn't be out running around in a Hollow infested – "_

"_But, Hitsugaya-kun – " _

"_I know you're not fully healed. Please don't make me use my status as a cap –"Hitsugaya_ had cut himself short, and finally looked her in the eye. He had looked pleading. "_Please, you have to fully heal..."_

But Hinamori had stopped listening to him. "_If that's what you wish, Hitsugaya-_taicho_." _She had grinded out through furiously gritted teeth. Then she dashed out of the First Division, and ignored the pain she saw flash across her friend's face.

She had barely spoken to him since. But his icy reiatsu was constantly nearby, as if always reminding her of his ever watchful presence.

"Hinamori-fukutaicho...?" Her third seat was gazing inquiringly at her, his handsome face slightly twisted in worry. She suddenly realised he wasn't the only one, as her entire team had their attention on her with varying degrees of worry etched on their features. She quickly smiled at them, but they didn't stop watching her.

"Um... yes? I'm afraid I didn't hear what you just said." She let out a small laugh, and gave him another small, sweet smile. Third seat Kudou blushed more and started fidgeting.

"Ah, fukutaicho, I asked if we should head back... Unless of course, you want to enjoy this lovely day!" He quickly added with shrugging shoulders and a glance to all the new recruits sitting on the grass. Hitsugaya's reiatsu had stopped plaguing them, although his dark storm clouds sill persisted in the west.

She frowned. _When had he stopped?_

"I believe we best enjoy this weather out here some more." She said gently. "We won't have another chance for a long while. The weather is going to be much too cold soon."

"That is...a great idea. Hehe." Kudou cast Hinamori a side along glace, but Hinamori didn't notice. She was too busy staring at the west.

"Kudou-kun?" Hinamori's attention was suddenly directed back to her third seat. "Could you, perhaps train the recruits here? I thought a manifestation exercise would be good in this weather."

"Ah, yes. Right away, fukutaicho." And with that, third seat Kudou sped off to gather the new recruits. She watched as Kudou flashed a brilliant smile at her and sat down cross legged, instructing the other first years to do the same, leaving Hinamori with her thoughts again.

She remembered the first time she had caught Hitsugaya silently watching over her. He had concealed his reiatsu then when she went out to eliminate a recent Hollow rampage in the Rukongai. It was her first mission since coming out of recuperating in the Fourth Division, and he had worried needlessly over her.

The Hollow seemed to be in a stage of pseudo-Arrancar, it had a tough Hierro that Tobiume's fireballs don't seemed to be having much effect. She knew she had to resort to higher level kido's so she stood in the Hollow's path and was midway through the incantation for Hado #73 _Soren Sokatsui_ when the Hollow was suddenly encased in ice and shattered, much to her surprise.

"_Baka Hinamori."_ He had said as he jumped down in front of her. "_You could've been killed."_

"_Hitsugaya-kun._" She had been dumbfounded, which instantly morphed to anger. How dare he butt into her fight. "_I had it under control."_

Hitsugaya had stared at her with those shocking green eyes, and pointedly ignored her silent rage. "_I've been thinking, bed wetter... maybe you should leave the Gotei 13, and live with Granny."_ She had been so shocked at hearing that, she couldn't speak. Hitsugaya had bulldozed on. "_I just... Don't you - Don't you wish for those days when you were happy, Hinamori?"_

Hinamori stood like a gaping fish. "_Think about it, please. Hinamori. I can't bear to see you get hurt again..." _And with that, he had left.

She hadn't spoken to him until the incident with the Annual Real World Mission. And she hadn't spoken to him after, either.

She had ignored him completely.

But now sitting peacefully here on the grass, she couldn't help but lament at the estranged nature of their relationship. His silent, misplaced devotion and her equally quiet resentment.

A roar echoed through the camp and Hinamori was shaken out of her lamentations. An enormous Hollow entered the clearing and proceeded to pick up and eat two Shinigami before anyone could react.

_They were fresh graduates!_ Hinamori silently roared as she drew out Tobiume. "Snap!" She commanded and sent a fireball at the Hollow. The Hollow staggered back and roared some more at her and her team, who had drawn up their sword and instantly made a circle around her.

"Step back." Third seat Kudou said as he rushed at the Hollow, but it knocked him back and sent him flying out of sight. _Dammit, Kudou-kun._

She rushed forward with Tobiume gripped in her hand, she let loose another fireball, but this time, the Hollow seemed to expect it and dodged it. _Damn. _She changed tactics and used shunpo to move around it, weaving a kido net.

"Hado #12 _Fushibi_, Hado #31 _Shakka_ – Arghhh." A tentacle suddenly shot out of its neck and made a deep cut into the side of Hinamori's sword arm. She was distracted and only moved fast enough to keep it from taking out her entire arm.

The Hollow ensnared in the net was then set on fire, it had died screaming. First years cheered around her, but Hinamori-fukutaicho didn't move. She had sensed what the lower ranked failed to.

Two more Hollows appeared as the first one vanished, and this time she was ready. She sheathed Tobiume, and brought both her hands in front of her, palm up.

"Hado #88 _Hiryugekizokushintenrai – _" She didn't need to finish, for the two hollows that suddenly appeared were encased in ice – _what? - _just as suddenly in front of her.

Her brow furrowed. _Hitsugaya._

The short captain and his distinctive unruly hair stood before her with his Zanpakuto drawn, right in the path of her Hado.

Resentment flooded into her anew. "Hitsugaya-taicho." She said coldly as the two popsicles that were once hollows shattered and died before her, he didn't answer her.

"Takashi-san?" her sixteenth seat stopped staring at Hitsugaya-taicho and bowed his head slightly to his fukutaicho. "Please look for Kudou-kun and bring him to the Fourth Division. To the rest of you, this training session is over."

She used shunpo and headed back to the Seireitei, trying to ignore the presence of the Tenth Division captain easily keeping up with her. They arrived in awkward silence to the Fifth Division barracks.

"Hinamori, I - " Hitsugaya tried to say to her a couple of seconds after they arrived, but Hinamori cut him off heatedly.

"I had it under control." If glares could kill, Hitsugaya would've died and been reincarnated several times under her burning eyes.

"You're hurt." He always changed the subject when he got uncomfortable.

"I'm fine. Why, Hitsugaya-taicho, why?" He flinched slightly, and she was suddenly guilty at accidently reminding him, but she tried to ignore it and plunged on. "I'm not a child! I'm a Lieutenant of the Gotei 13. I can handle myself with those small fry!"

Hitsugaya was averting his eyes again. "I have to protect you, Hinamori."

"You know what you make me look like in front of my fresh recruits? _Weak._ They are without a Captain, _and_ they'll think they're following a Lieutenant who has to rely on – "

A blast of icy reiatsu hit her in the face, but she didn't care, her own spiked to match. "I couldn't care less about what they think. Don't you get it? It's the least I could do after - after what I did to you. I _have_ to protect you. From _everything_. So you wouldn't have to – "

"Draw Hyourinmaru."

_What?_

"I _said_ to DRAW YOUR SWORD!" To punctuate her statement, Hinamori drew Tobiume and released it in its Shikai form.

"Hinamori, stop this madness, I would never – "A fireball to his midsection cut him off, he was left to stare incredulously into Hinamori's still burning eyes. How they burned.

"You're still not going to draw your sword? You might get hurt, Hitsugaya-_taicho_." She placed her fingers in a triangle in front of her. "Bakudo #30 _Shitotsu Sansen_." Three yellow triangles flew at him, but Hyourinmaru was out and he placed a shield of ice between them.

"What the hell do you think – "

"I. Am. A. Lieutenant. Of. The. Gotei. 13. I. Am. Just. As. Strong. As. The. Rest. Of. You!" She punctuated each word with a furious fireball from Tobiume, all of which crackled against his shield.

"Hinamori... I have to. It's the least I could do – "

She used shunpo to appear behind him, and sent him flying into the ice with a deadly _Shakkaho_. Hinamori's small frame stood over him as he tried to get up from amid his shattered ice fragments.

"I told you many times that it was never your fault. When are you going to understand that?"

"Until you're out of danger!" He shot back at he stood up and glared at her, his reiatsu rising to dangerous levels and the sky ahead darkened ominously. The Fifth Division courtyard was surprisingly empty due to the two battle ready columns of captain-level reiatsu.

"How are you planning on accomplishing that? By holding my hand every time I go to the restroom because you're_ afraid _of the Hollows I will meet in the toilet? By _chewing_ my food so I don't choke?"

"Don't be ridi – "

Hinamori shook her head as she raised her finger and pointed at him. "Hado #4 _Byakurai_." And he had to use shunpo to dodge as Hinamori started raining white thunder at him.

One of them nicked him on the shoulder and left a burn, and he knew this madness had to stop.

"Reign upon the Frosted Heavens, HYOURINMARU!" The sky above started to snow as an enormous dragon of ice appeared.

"HYORYU SENBI!" Hyourinmaru was swung in a linear motion, his blade over flowing with ice. Hinamori barely jumped out of the way in time to avoid being trapped in the ice cresent. "ZEKKU!" Hinamori's eyes widened in shock as the ice flew up and encased her, being unable to dodge in mid jump.

His heart stopped. "HINAMORI! I'm sorry, I –" he paused as he noticed her hands.

She had her right hand in front of her, palm up, and her left hand grabbed its wrist. It begun to glow red. In less than a second, the entire ice sheet exploded from Hinamori's _Shakkaho,_ raining fragments on Hitsugaya.

Despite being sore in the three places her kido had found its target, Hitsugaya couldn't help feeling slightly proud at her skill and prowess.

Hinamori was panting, soaked through from his melting ice; the wound from her right arm was bleeding profusely. Water streamed down her face –_was she crying?-_ but she ignored it all and brought her hands up, ready to fire another kido.

"Hinamori! Please, stop this. Look, you're hurt badly. Stop this nonsense. Momo-chan, you have to – "

She was definitely crying as her hands started to grow a dangerous pink. "Don't call me 'chan'! Hado #91 _Senju – _" Rods of pink light gathered around her small frame in the sky, aiming towards him.

"What in the hell, Hinamori – "

" - _Koten Taiho!"_

They all flew at him aiming for his heart, quicker than lightning, and it was only his captain level reflexes that allowed him to summon his bankai to create a shield of ice from its wings which the following explosion shattered to pieces.

"Momo... what the hell do you think you're doing?" he roared as the wings of his bankai rebuilt itself. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a frightened look in Hinamori's teary eyes, but he ignored it. "Are you trying to fucking _kill _me?"

She didn't answer him, drew her sheathed Tobiume and flew at him. But he was ready. Forced to use his bankai, he was furious, and he knew Hinamori knew it as she came at him.

He willed out the crescent chain that was attached to the end of Hyourinmaru, used Flash Step Methodology to quickly wrap it around her hands. Her eyes met his at that instant, and she knew she was checkmated. But he didn't stop.

"Bakudo #12, _Inemuri_." Hinamori's eyes grew saucer wide as she stared helpless at the finger he held to her thoart. Then she began to nod off, and finally, dropped into a peaceful slumber.

Hitsugaya cradled her small frame in his arms as he melted the ice that kept her hands together. He let out a sigh that seem much too tired and much too mature for his young age. He carried her to room and laid her down delicately on her bed. He held her bloody hands and for the first time since Hinamori's coma during the Aizen betrayal, when he had been at his most helpless and his most desperate, he cried silent tears of days long forgotten and irretrievable.

888

The large clock that sits in the middle of the Seireitei chimed midnight.

Hitsugaya had completed all of Hinamori's paperwork, and contented to just sit and watch his best friend sleep off his Bakudo. He had dressed her wounds the best he could and decided that in the morning, he would bring her to Unohana-taicho for treatment.

During the evening, many of the Fifth Division members had bravely returned when they felt the two dangerous spirit pressures subside. They had begun the cleanup of their courtyard where the fight took place. Hitsugaya couldn't help but smile at their placid acceptance of this mundane task and was slightly jealous at the obvious adoration of Hinamori in the hearts of her division members.

He had contemplated leaving every single time the clock chimed the hour, but he had always found some excuse to stay. Paperwork of Hinamori's that he missed. A speck of dirt that should be cleaned up.

He always wound up sitting at her side and staring at her peaceful face before a quater of an hour was over. And he remained there for the next three quarters, when the clock would chime again.

As much as he wanted to, he shouldn't stay. Couldn't stay. The Gotei 13 would talk.

And Matsumoto would get suspicious. Not to mention the paperwork that was probably piled into a tenuous stack that was supposed to have been completed by his fukutaicho.

Midnight would be the hour he would leave, he had decided. But when the hour finally chimed, he found he was reluctant to leave. But he had to. With a heavy sigh, Hitsugaya rose from his chair beside her bed, and reached over to adjust the blanket over her shoulders.

He was out the door and getting ready to shunpo to the Tenth Division when he heard a noise from the room.

In a flash he was opening her door again and in her room. But she was sleeping soundly.

He must be imaging things, and turned around to go. A voice stopped him dead in his tracks

"Shi...ro-chan..." Her voice was thin, small and weak. But she was fast asleep, wasn't she? Did she know he had been here? Was she upset with him? Or was she dreaming, and talking utter nonsense?

"Don't leave me." She begged in a tiny voice. Hitsugaya frowned at her from his position in the doorway. She had been aware of his presence, for how long she had deceived him, he did not know.

But he sat down obediently anyways, unable to deny her anything. She made no acknowledgement of his actions and slumbered on.

If any of the Shinigami had found him in this position, he knew rumours would start flying, especially after the onslaught of reiatsu and the damages to the Fifth Division courtyard. People would be questioning about what Hinamori Momo really meant to the Tenth Division Captain and the icy exterior he had worked on for so long would be admonished.

_Let them find me_. He thought savagely. What were rumours compared to the comfort of the most precious thing in the world? He had suffered much more, and gossip would be nothing next the pain he had endured.

Life was not worth living without her.

He had known that for some time now.

He had always wanted to keep her safe because he was her best friend, and she was the sunshine to break up his storms. Hinamori had always been beautiful.

But now he wanted to hold her in his arms, comfort her, and keep her safe for a different reason entirely.

_I love you, Baka Momo._

"Hinamori." He whispered to her sleeping form. "What have you done to me?"

Her moonlit face seemed to play a ghost of a smile: _Nothing that you didn't already want._

888

**A/N:** I'm not entirely happy with the fight scene, I might go ahead and change it... I found it slightly sloppy. Any suggestions?

I honestly _hate_ stories where Hinamori is a helpless little wreck. She's a fighter, and its proven again and again when she just gets up and fights. When Aizen told her (falsely) that Hitsugaya was a murderer, she didn't sit down in a corner somewhere and cry, she _fought_ him. When she knew Harribel's Fraccion was way too tough, she still wove her kido net and sent them an explosion. Ugh. Sometimes, fanfics frustrate me.


End file.
